<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Give Up On Trying To Save Us by cloakoflevitation</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28767123">Give Up On Trying To Save Us</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloakoflevitation/pseuds/cloakoflevitation'>cloakoflevitation</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>I Hope It's Already Too Late [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Sanders Sides (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts, Feelings, Gen, No Beta – I Hope You Blink Before I Do, Song: No Children (The Mountain Goats)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 05:40:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,105</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28767123</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloakoflevitation/pseuds/cloakoflevitation</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>This is part of a series where the dark sides have taken over the Mindscape.</p><p>I wrote the first half of this in November and the second half last week (January). I think you can tell.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>I Hope It's Already Too Late [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2010970</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Give Up On Trying To Save Us</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/WolfsBane54/gifts">WolfsBane54</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>@WolfsBane54, thanks for commenting on the last part, your suggestion is what helped me figure out where I was going with this &lt;3</p><p>@Cy (not a username, just someone who left a comment on the last part of this series). I just realized you didn't comment from an ao3 account, so this is gifted to you in spirit. The little moment between Remus and Virgil is for you.</p><p>I would die for all of you who left me comments on the last part. If I could write enough fics to gift one to all of you, I would.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Logan, I wanted your opinion–” Thomas abruptly interrupted himself with a sharp gasp, followed by a strangled, <em>“Oh my god.”</em> He took shaky steps towards Logan. “What <em>happened?”</em></p><p>“He’s fine,” Virgil cut in, calling Thomas’s attention to him for the first time since he had appeared. His arms were crossed over his chest. “He just won’t be giving any input right now.”</p><p>Virgil watched as Thomas reached out towards Logan before dropping his hand back to his side like a puppet that had its strings cut. He wondered what Thomas would have done if he could have actually touched Logan. He wondered if it would have mattered.</p><p>Thomas turned on him, anger and hurt and something… something that looked like <em>hate</em> in his eyes. <em>“You sewed his lips shut!”</em></p><p>Virgil looked at the dark black thread that <em>appeared</em> to be holding Logan’s mouth shut (although it was Janus’s powers really stopping him from speaking), and suddenly the idea seemed infinitely less funny than it had when Remus had come up with it. He shifted uncomfortably, skin burning under Thomas’s fierce stare. “No, we didn’t,” he explained, trying not to sound like a scolded child. “It’s just an illusion. Remus made it.”</p><p>Thomas turned to Logan, expression melting into something carefully gentle, and he asked softly, “Is this true?”</p><p>In that one simple action, when Thomas turned from him to Logan, seeking confirmation, Virgil realized whatever trust he had built with Thomas was shattered irreparably. His ears rang with a buzzing sound that didn’t exist, and his vision swam with an emotion that he wouldn’t admit to having. He stumbled back a step, nearly falling into the stairs. The shards of broken trust pierced his heart and his lungs, stealing a surprised gasp from him.</p><p>He blinked and Thomas was looking at him now, and he had moved closer. His mouth moved but Virgil couldn’t hear the words being said (and he probably didn’t want to).</p><p>Virgil pulled his hood up over his head and disappeared without another word.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Janus appeared in Thomas’s living room, finding Patton was already present.</p><p>Thomas scowled, glaring in Janus’s direction at his arrival. “If you think that I’ll listen to anything you have to say now –”</p><p><em>“Now?”</em> Janus tipped his head back and laughed, all teeth and fangs. “Oh Thomas…” He shook his head and tutted, “Let’s be <em>honest</em> with ourselves. You <em>never</em> listened to me. Not now, and certainly not before.” He looked away, letting his tone turn more serious. “I’m not naïve enough to believe that this would change things – that this shift in power would make you listen to me.” He grinned again, closing off his face into a façade of careless indifference. “But now, if you want an opinion…” He looked pointedly to Patton, who was unable to speak. “I suppose it’ll have to be mine.”</p><p>Thomas’s eyebrows scrunched together. For a moment, it looked as if he might say something, but then his conflicted expression shifted more towards anger. He crossed his arms, staring Janus down. “I see the thread is gone.” The words were pointedly, the accusation painfully clear.</p><p>Janus specifically held his expression firm, holding back an instinctive wince. Perhaps the illusion of the light sides’ lips sewn shut was not the most sensitive, and yes, maybe he should have thought ahead to Thomas’s reaction. But he couldn’t, <em>wouldn’t</em> show this weakness, not now, not in front of Thomas or Patton. He wouldn’t give a hint to any kind of disagreement between himself and Remus and Virgil. If he did, they would use it to drive them apart.</p><p>He met Thomas’s gaze, unwavering. “Does it put you more at ease, without the visual reminder?”</p><p>“I had thought this meant you weren’t silencing the others anymore.” Thomas frowned and had the audacity to look <em>disappointed.</em> “I see I was wrong.”</p><p>Janus’s mouth pinched with amusement. <em>“I’m</em> silencing the others?” It was meant as a rhetorical question, and Thomas didn’t bother to answer him. “If it is <em>me</em> who is silencing them, then who silenced Remus, until recently? Who silenced <em>me</em> until recently? Who hid us away? I assure you those decisions were not <em>my</em> choice.”</p><p>Thomas folded his arms over his chest. “Cut the bullshit, Janus. I know that’s your job.”</p><p>Taking a step forward, Janus gave a mock bow. “I am but the humble executioner, a servant to the king.” When it became clear that Thomas still didn’t understand, Janus’s grin turned razor sharp. “What am I, without <em>you?</em> What is any side without you?”</p><p>A hint of fear fractured Thomas’s angry mask. “No, that’s not – I’m not –” He looked desperately to Patton, who remained involuntarily silent. He turned back to Janus. “It’s not me! If it was <em>me</em> silencing them, then I would just undo it! I would have never done it in the first place!”</p><p>“Maybe… unless some part of you <em>wanted</em> them silenced. And clearly some part of you,” Janus gestured up and down his body, indicating himself, “does want them silenced.”</p><p>Thomas turned wide-eyed and worried to Patton, stepping closer to him, reaching out for him, stammering out, “I’m <em>so</em> sorry – I would never –”</p><p>Patton sunk out.</p><p>Thomas sank to the floor, his knees hitting the carpet with a thud.</p><p>“The only way <em>I</em> can be a villain,” Janus caught Thomas’s distraught gaze, letting the words burn the back of his throat as he said them, “is if <em>you</em> are one too.”</p><p>And then he was gone, back to the dark side of the Mindscape.</p><p>It hurt, watching Patton sink out, watching Thomas fall to the floor, seeing all of their emotions painted across their faces. It hurt far more than Janus wanted to admit. But he carefully locked those feelings away, buried deep within himself. He had caused all of this, after all. He was tired of being blamed, tired of being cast as the bad guy. He had known the truth would hurt, but it didn’t make it any easier to watch the fallout.</p><p>He hoped he had made the right decision.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Thomas glanced down at the notebook once more before looking up to Remus again through narrowed eyes. “These are… surprising.”</p><p>Remus rocked forwards onto his toes and then back onto his heels. “You like them?”</p><p>“I… I do, actually.” It seemed as though Thomas had to force the admission out, and he was quick to qualify, “Not all of them, of course. Some of them are… not exactly viewer friendly. But some of the others…” His expression shifted into something that Remus couldn’t name. “I think some of this could work.”</p><p>Remus felt happy enough to burst but firmly reminded himself not to do it. Thomas had not liked it the last time he did. He grinned, watching Thomas shift uneasily under his gaze. “I’ll be in the Imagination, if you need me for anything else.”</p><p>“Oh. Okay.”</p><p>It was clear Thomas hadn’t meant to sound surprised, if the way he winced immediately after was anything to go by. If Remus had to guess, he’d say Roman normally stuck around, helping Thomas work through the finer details of the ideas he’d come up with for videos. Maybe Thomas had assumed Remus would do the same. Or maybe, for just a moment, Thomas had forgotten who he was speaking to.</p><p>Remus told himself he didn’t care.</p><p>“Don’t want to overstay my welcome,” he joked, but he could tell by Thomas’s face that it hadn’t worked. “Places to be, things to kill,” he said quickly, giving a two-finger salute before disappearing back into the Mindscape before Thomas could say anything else.</p><p>Standing in the living room of the dark side, he ran a hand through his hair and then shook his head, trying to dismiss the end of the interaction from his mind. Thomas had <em>liked</em> his ideas. Thomas thought he did <em>good.</em> That’s what he wanted to focus on.</p><p>On the way to his room, he passed Virgil, who gave him a soft smile. Virgil must have been listening to their conversation and heard Thomas liked his video ideas.</p><p>To Remus’s horror, he felt himself blushing.</p><p>By the time he made it to the door in his room to the Imagination, he felt ready to crawl out of his skin. Emotions swarmed him, festering into his mind like parasites. He wasn’t used to this, to being… appreciated.</p><p>He thought maybe he liked it.</p><p>Entering the Imagination, he looked around his room in the highest tower of his fortress, slowly making his way over to the window. He looked out over everything beneath him, the shadow forest, the pit of monsters, the arena he built only last week. He could remember making each landmark, each building, each creature. Pride filled his chest.</p><p>Suddenly, he felt a tear in the Imagination and then a presence just outside his fortress. Adrenaline buzzed in his veins as he summoned his morning star, making his way down the stairs towards the front doors.</p><p>
  <em>Roman.</em>
</p><p>In the grand hall, he saw his brother come rushing through the doorway, briefly silhouetted by the torch light just outside the door. Roman held his katana in one hand, mouth pulled into an angry sneer. He was running, clearly intent on finding Remus, and he didn’t slow down when he saw him.</p><p>Remus lazily swung his morning star in an arc for show, watching Roman’s outrage grow fiercer, and waited. At the last second, he stepped to the side, turning on Roman as he swung his katana through the space where Remus had just been.</p><p>“Hello, Roman.” When Roman swung again, Remus caught the edge of his katana with the shaft of his morning star, letting Roman press closer to him as he leaned forward to taunt, “Something on your mind?”</p><p>“Don’t play games with me!” Roman shoved him and then stepped back, swinging his katana low to knock Remus off his feet.</p><p>Remus went down but reached out to grab Roman’s ankle, startling him enough that he became unbalanced. Remus pulled, and Roman went tumbling on the floor as well, both their weapons fallen from their grasps. As Roman pushed up from the floor on his stomach, Remus hurried to pin him down, scrambling to put his weight on Roman’s back, hands trying to catch his arms. Roman’s face slammed into the stone floor.</p><p>“Yield,” Remus demanded. He would have felt pleased with himself, had Roman’s emotions not compromised his fighting. In a fair fight, they were more evenly matched, but this… this was like trying to spar with Patton.</p><p>“Never,” Roman hissed, still struggling to pull his arms free and roll Remus off of him.</p><p>“Come back when you’ve calmed down. Maybe then we can have a <em>real</em> fight.” When Roman continued to ignore him, Remus decided to say something he knew would get his attention. “Unless…this is your best? Maybe I’m the better Creativity at everything<em>,</em> not just at brainstorming ideas.”</p><p>There was a sharp intake of breath, and then Roman froze beneath him. A moment passed. “He didn’t even like <em>all</em> your ideas.”</p><p>Remus stood up, keeping hold of Roman’s arms and roughly dragging him up with him. He pushed Roman forward, watching him stumble and regain his balance and then turn to face him. Remus crossed his arms and grinned. “So I guess Thomas <em>always</em> likes <em>all</em> of yours then?”</p><p>Roman’s expression turned murderous, and Remus knew he had struck a nerve. As Roman started to open his mouth to retaliate, Remus added, “Be sure to tell the truth, whatever you’re about to say. You know how Thomas feels about <em>lying.”</em></p><p>And just like that, all the righteous fury seemed to leak out of Roman, like helium from a balloon. He looked down at the ground, jaw clenched. His hands were squeezed into fists, knuckles white, but it was the tears silently dripping down his cheeks that caught Remus’s attention.</p><p>“I <em>hate</em> you,” Roman swore, too quiet and cold to be anything but the truth.</p><p>A slow, cruel smile pulled at Remus’s mouth, and he let it slide across his face, as he stepped closer, forcing Roman’s gaze back up to meet his. “But <em>Thomas</em> likes me.” He snapped his fingers, and their weapons on the floor disappeared: Roman’s katana back to its scabbard at his side and Remus’s morning star back into the void of the Imagination. “And Thomas likes <em>my</em> ideas.” He took another step closer, pleased when Roman straightened his shoulders and pointedly did not step back. “So tell me, Roman,” he touched Roman’s chest with his index finger, pressing gently, “What does he need <em>you</em> for?”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I know I wrote this, but hhhh;;;; badass!Remus at the end;;;;; that's the good stuff right there</p><p>I've loosely decided on the ending for this series, and oh boy, I am <i>dying</i> to write it and share it with y'all. But, before then, we'll explore what it looks like with the dark sides in power.</p><p>I think the next part will be the light sides confronting Virgil and trying to get him to come back. No idea when I will post that (or write it lmao), sorry :]</p><p>As always, if you would like to see a specific interaction/scene/whatever, feel free to suggest it.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>